Have you recently added optomap technology to your practice? Perhaps you have new patients that are not familiar with ultra-widefield retinal imaging, and they’re eager to learn more about how the technology can benefit them. Regardless of the situation, when you present optomap to your patients for the first time, they may have several questions. To help you answer those questions, as well as explain the benefits of optomap, below are some of the most common questions and answers practitioners receive about optomap you can use as talking points.

Do I really need a retinal exam? The retina’s sensitive tissues often show early stages of diseases, such as diabetes, stroke and some cancers before you experience other symptoms. An optomap should be considered part of a comprehensive eye exam.  It also allows us to view more of your retina than we could with other technology. What is an optomap? Are there any side effects of this exam? An optomap uses scanning laser technology to create a panoramic, digital, high-resolution, and 200 degree view of the retina. The lasers are low intensity and non-invasive – in over 40 million images, no side effects have been found. How does optomap benefit me as a patient? There are many patient benefits associated with …

As proponents of good eye health, Optos would like to remind all practitioners that May is Healthy Vision Month. This is an excellent time to speak to your patients about healthy eye care habits that will provide them with the best chance at maintaining their eyesight, as well as preventing unnecessary vision loss.

As an eye care professional, you likely remind your patients of proper practices for optimal eye health on a routine basis. Healthy Vision Month is a great opportunity to remind them to be more proactive. Some tips and reminders you may wish to discuss with your patients include:

— Following your advice and scheduling regular comprehensive eye exams for early detection of deteriorating vision or eye disease. — Living a lifestyle that includes proper nutrition to support vision, exercise to maintain a healthy body weight and no smoking. — The importance of wearing protective glasses or face shields while participating in sports or other activities that can potentially harm their eyes. — Remind them to always wear sun protection to block both UVA and UVB rays, which are harmful to the eyes.

Also, consider hanging eye health posters in your practice to engage your patients. You might even set up your own …

Maggie is a patient who experienced a sudden browning out of her peripheral vision just over a year ago. Exams revealed that retinal bleeding was the cause of this browning and that it had developed for unknown reasons. Since retinal disease is the leading cause of blindness, bleeding of the retina can pose a serious problem for patients. Maggie was treated with laser therapy to stop the bleeding before permanent damage was done to her eyesight.

Due to the sensitive nature of the retina and the unknown cause for the sudden bleeding, Maggie’s retinal specialist, Dr. Amjad Hammad has been carefully monitoring the treated area, as well as watching for signs of further problems using optomap® technology.

Unlike conventional technology that provides a limited view of the retina, optomap® uses a scanning laser to create a high-resolution image which catches roughly 82 percent of the retinal area — more than four times the area visible in the past. This advanced technology allows for more accurate diagnoses and greater potential to mitigate damage to the retina from disease or damage.

In one of Maggie’s follow-up visits, Dr. Hammad was able to identify another area with potential problems because of the optomap® technology, …

We’ve all heard of patients who’ve had less than stellar experiences with a health care provider, feeling more like a number and less like a person their practitioner wants to invest time in. However, there are lots of ways you can easily turn things around and improve your patients’ experience at your practice.

One tip Eric M. White, OD, recently shared in Optometric Minute is to always be positive and to thank your patients after each visit. As he explains, when the practitioner projects positivity and is in a good mood, it will have a ripple effect on others, trickling the good mood down to your staff members and then to your patients when they step in the door.  After all, a positive attitude can make a huge difference because positivity is “infectious” and can help patients feel as though they’re valued in your practice.

At the end of the day, Dr. White also emails a personal thank you note to patients he saw throughout the day. This not only keeps the lines of communication open, but it also gives him the chance to verify a patient’s contact information, as well as obtain feedback from patients about their …

Talking to your patients about the dangers of blue-violet light is becoming more important as their exposure increases due to the continued use of digital gadgets and other devices. With that in mind, Think About Your Eyes UK recently started the “seeing blue” campaign to raise patient awareness of the damage exposure to blue-violet light can cause to their eyesight in this age of extensive screen usage and LED lighting.

Since deteriorating vision can happen over time and is often painless, your patients may not understand the damage their exposure to blue-violet light can cause. Macular degeneration is on the rise and it is largely being attributed to increased time being spent in front of computers and other screens for work and play.

One of the reasons blue-violet light is being attributed to the rise in macular degeneration is because melanin production decreases as we age. For your patients, this means their natural eye protection from these light sources is diminished, but their exposure is still increasing. Some of your patients may not be aware that there are specialty glasses that can reduce the damage to their vision from prolonged screen usage or fluorescent lighting.

Other talking points that will …

With April being Women’s Eye Health and Safety Month, it’s not only important to educate women about their increased risk for eye disease and vision impairment – it’s also important to use this time to inform them of how to keep their eyes and vision in optimum condition. Since most women are unaware of the gender-specific vision risks, they may also be ill informed of the things that may help mitigate future problems.

The following are several suggestions you may wish to discuss with your female patients:

— Although proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle are critical in limiting the effects of age-related vision problems, such as AMD and cataracts, there are supplements that may be beneficial to help support eye health. The Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) performed in 2001 showed some supplements may slow the progression of some diseases. — Maintaining a healthy body weight is essential to eye health. Obesity contributes to diseases such as diabetes, which may result in conditions like diabetic retinopathy. This may also increase the risks of AMD and cataracts. — Advise your patients to invest in a good pair of sunglasses and to wear them regularly to protect their eyes from harmful UVA and UVB …

With more than 5 million comprehensive patient records currently on file, the AmericanAcademy of Ophthalmology (AAO) has recently announced the official launch of the Intelligent Research in Sight (IRIS™) registry. This is the nation’s first comprehensive registry of eye diseases and conditions and is designed to help improve patient care, comply with federal payment programs and enhance practice efficiency and quality using statistical analysis and aggregated data.

According to AAO CEO David W. Parke II, MD, “This is a watershed moment for the field of ophthalmology.” IRIS™ allows for evidence-based diagnostics harnessing the power of millions of pieces of clinical data saving significant time over traditional resources employed just 10 years ago.

You will be able to use IRIS™ to monitor and track patient care with its sub-specialty modules, apply variables such as demographics, pre-existing conditions and more to effectively assess possible outcomes for conditions such as AMD, cataract surgery, retinal surgery and diabetic retinopathy. Not only will this put innovative tools literally at your fingertips to improve speed and accuracy of diagnostics; it will allow you to strategically plan for better patient outcomes which will aid you in achieving excellence in your practice.

Optos is proud to be …

A case series recently published in the Canadian Journal of Ophthalmology reported that UWF fluorescein angiography (FA) revealed far-peripheral vascular pathology (including vasculitis and vascular occlusion) in all four patients with peripheral retinal vasculitis, information on the extent of the disease that would not have been obtained with a fundus examination and traditional FA. The authors suggest that UWF-FA is useful in patients with uveitis for determining appropriate follow-up intervals, categorization of uveitis, and treatment evaluation, even in eyes with minimal pathology.

Hong BK, Khanamiri HN, Rao NA. Role of ultra-widefield fluorescein angiography in the management of uveitis. Can J Ophthalmol. 2013; 48: 489-493.

Recruiting 406 healthy subjects from a college population, researchers performed eye examinations, including Optos UWF retinal imaging, to determine the prevalence of choroidal nevi. Analysis of the optomap^® images revealed that 39 subjects (10%) presented with at least one nevus, with multiple nevi appearing unilaterally in eight subjects. The researchers concluded that the higher prevalence observed compared to other population-based studies resulted from their ability to image up to 200° of the fundus with the Optos system. The clinical significance of choroidal nevi is related to their rare potential to transform into malignant choroidal melanoma.

Gordon-Shaag A, Barnard S, Millodot M, et al. Prevalence of choroidal naevi using scanning laser ophthalmoscope. Ophthalmic Physiol Opt. 2014; 34: 94-101.

In a preliminary study presented at ARVO last year, researchers demonstrated a novel technique for managing extensive peripheral retinal ischemia and subsequently mitigating rebound edema while preserving most peripheral vision. Using UWF-FA to identify areas of nonperfusion in each quadrant and then importing this information into their panretinal laser system allowed the investigators to effectively navigate PRP treatment in the periphery. A larger, prospective study to evaluate the integrated use of the Optos 200Tx with a panretinal laser for the management of retinal ischemia and rebound edema is now underway.

Surapaneni K, Singer M, Tan C, Sadda S. Widefield angiography-navigated panretinal photocoagulation in the management of retinal ischemia and rebound edema. Poster presented at Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology Annual Meeting, Seattle, WA. May 5-9, 2013.